Dadaism was a movement in the 1910s and 1920s that supported nonconformity and antiwar movements. Understanding this is important when understanding Hannah Hoch’s work, because she was greatly influenced by these ideas, making her an influential Dadaist.
I really enjoyed Hoch’s art, because she worked from what she knew. That is, her work was heavily influence by her own life experiences, making it intensely personal. For example, Hoch was a woman, and this shines through in her artwork, as she often puts women as the center of attention in her art. This was uncommon in the early 20th century, and most Dadaists were men. Hannah Hoch was also influenced by her job with a publishing house. In this job, she designed fashion and wrote articles about household art projects. This shows through in her work, because she is able to combine very abstract, contemporary ideas with strategies of advertising and the media.
An example of this is shown in her piece “Da Dandy,” which is a photomontage, that includes photos of a woman and the words “Dada” and “dandy.” This particular piece highlights the woman, referencing Hoch’s own gender, and the photos and words look as if they were cut straight from a magazine, showing the media’s influence on Hoch at the time.
Hoch was one of the founders of the photomontage, which is many images cut and placed together to create a new image. Today we see this most commonly with the use of Photoshop. Hoch’s use of this technique was extremely unique and experimental at the time. It also raised the issue of appropriation – did this work even belong to Hoch if the images used were all borrowed from other sources? This question is still important today.
The photograph I used is of David Hockney’s “Pearblossom Highway.” This piece is also a photomontage. It was created in 1986, about 50-60 years after the height of the Dada movement.
I agree with you that she used her daily life in her art work. It is clear that she is influenced by what she knows. It makes me think of the image that involved using the sewing paper "Tailor's Flower." I think it's brilliant to find use in everyday things and be able to create art from that.
ReplyDeleteI actually didn't think much about the issue of appropriation while reading about Hoch, but you bring up an important subject. I still don't know how I feel about it, we are told that plagiarism is bad everyday, yet it's okay if it's art? How can you give credit to the original artist who created it or is using the image enough honor for the original artists that no other form of credit is needed? These are important questions and I am still figuring out how I feel about it.